Why does Donald Trump want to buy Greenland?

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President-elect Donald Trump has argued that the United States should purchase Greenland since his first term in the White House.

The island, which has a population of 56,000, is an autonomous territory of Denmark, and both the Danish government and local authorities have repeatedly stated that the island is not for sale.

But that hasn't deterred the president-elect.

For reasons of national security and freedom around the world, the United States of America believes that ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity, he wrote on Truth Social last month in announcing his choice as ambassador, the co-founder of PayPal, Kenneth Howery. , in Denmark.

Greenland is about three times the size of Texas and is located in northeastern Canada. Denmark has ruled the island for more than 200 years and retains some control over its foreign policy, the Washington Post noted.

We are not for sale and never will be, said Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede.

Trump, meanwhile, says owning Greenland is a national security imperative. The United States has a base on the island, Pituffik Space Base, and the island is in a strategically important location for missile defense and space surveillance missions, according to The Post. The base was built at the start of the Cold War.

The island is more than 800,000 square miles and has many natural resources, such as oil and rare earth minerals. In 2019, Senator Tom Cotton wrote in a New York Times opinion piece that there were strategic benefits to purchasing Greenland, highlighting China's attempt to purchase a former US naval base on the island in 2016 and several attempts by the country to build airports there. .

A plane carrying Donald Trump Jr. arrives in Nuuk, Greenland, January 7, 2025. President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that the United States buy the island (Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty)

Denmark controlled the island from the early 18th century until 1979. The island is now autonomous in local matters, a Danish government website states. The Nordic country also maintains the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic as a self-governing territory.

In 2009, Greenland approved the Self-Government Act, leading to self-government, but matters of defense and foreign policy still fall to Denmark.

Former Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard told The Post in 2019 that the Greenlandic people have their own rights.

Residents of Greenland are Danish citizens and have two representatives in the Danish parliament. The country's indigenous peoples make up the majority of the island's population.

The United States has considered purchasing Greenland in the past: President Andrew Johnson's administration authorized a report in the 1860s that the island's natural resources might be a good investment, but the idea did not 'came to fruition at the time.

President Harry Truman's administration offered $100 million for the island just after the end of World War II.

Because of its natural resources and industries, purchasing the island could cost up to $1.7 trillion, The Post estimates.

Last month, the Danish government announced new defense spending for Greenland amounting to around $1.5 billion. Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said plans to increase defense spending on the island were drawn up before Trump's new calls to buy Greenland.

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